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Peugeot 405 Turbo-16 Grand Raid
The Peugeot 405 Turbo-16 Grand Raid (Japanese: プジョー405 Pujō 405 Peugeot 405) is a pullback car first released as part of the Marathon Choro-Q sub-series in 1988. An overseas version was released in 2001 and 2003 as part of Funrise's Penny Racers line. It is based on the real-life Peugeot 405 Turbo-16 Grand Raid rally raid car. Information Real life Since 1984, Peugeot's motorsports division had competed in the World Rally Championship with their famed 205 Turbo-16 rally cars, which won the 1985 and 1986 championship titles. However, with the discontinuation of Group B rally racing for safety reasons, and Group A becoming the new standard for rally racing, Peugeot turned to rally raid racing. However, the 205 T16's size proved to have stability issues in the sand dunes and long fast corners associated with rally raid racing. Peugeot attempted to alleviate this by making modifications to the car in the form of the 205 T16 Grand Raid, but this did not solve the stability problems. From there, drastic measures were needed. They took the mechanical aspects of the 205 T16 and implemented them in an entirely new chassis designed for rally raid racing. They topped it off with a new coupe body based on the then-new 405 sedan, leading to the birth of the 405 Turbo-16 Grand Raid. The 405 T16 GR's chassis consists of a central steel monocoque surrounding the passenger compartment and front end, with a steel tubular auxiliary frame at the rear. It features a double wishbone suspension system with dual hydraulic shock absorbers and overlapping springs. The front axle is driven by a rack system, with integral traction and ventilated disc brakes. The transmission system is a six-speed manual gearbox. The body shell is made of composite materials such as Kevlar and carbon fiber. The car's powerplant is the PSA XU9 T, an Inline-4 engine which has a larger displacement than the 205 T16's XU8 T at 1.9 liters by increasing the stroke but leaving the bore unchanged. The XU9 T features a 16-valve DOHC valvetrain layout with four valves per cylinder. Enhanced by a Garrett variable geometry turbocharger, the XU9 T's maximum power, depending on the version of the vehicle, develops 400HP at 7,500 RPM up to 600HP at 7,000 RPM. The engine is transversally mounted with a 20 degree incline in a midship position in front of the rear wheels. This allowed the 405 T16 GR to have a very good power-to-weight ratio. The Pikes Peak version of the car, used by 1981 World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen to win the 1988 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, featured a 4WD layout with a lowered suspension system and an aerodynamic downforce system consisting of a large spoiler in the front, and a large, high-profile wing with a rear diffuser at the back end. The 405 T16 GR made its debut at the 1988 Paris-Dakar rally, where two cars, driven by Ari Vatanen (#204) and Henri Pescarolo (#206), competed alongside two 205 T16 Evolution II GR's (#205 and #207) driven by Juha Kankkunen and Alain Ambrosino, respectively, on the same team, which is sponsored by the Pioneer Corporation. The 405 T16 GR faced considerable competition during the rally, especially when, at one point, Vatanen's 405 T16 GR was overtaken in a speed duel by the DAF 95 TurboTwin X1 (#600) driven by DAF factory driver Jan De Rooy, who was the winner of the 1987 rally in the truck category. At another point in time during the rally, Vatanen had become the center of controversy when his car was stolen one night from the service area while he was leading by two hours in Bamako. The carjacker had demanded a ransom of 25,000,000 West African CFA Francs (approximately $79,245,000 USD by 1988's currency exchange rates) for its safe return. The stolen 405 T16 GR was later found and recovered, but the identity of the perpetrator remains unknown to this day. Unfortunately, the car was found far too late for Vatanen to continue the race with, and he was disqualified as a result. Despite this unfortunate setback, one of his teammates, Juha Kankkunen, had finished the race in 1st place for their team. Vatanen had went on to drive the 405 T16 GR to win the Paris-Dakar rally in 1989 and again in 1990. Toyline Marathon Choro-Q The Peugeot 405 T16 GR was released as a pullback toy car in the Marathon Choro-Q side-series, bearing the racing number and livery of the #204 car driven by Ari Vatanen, Pioneer sponsor logos and all. It also features the Blue MAX engine, but does not feature a coin holder. Penny Racers (Funrise) An overseas version of this vehicle was released in 2001 and 2003 as part of Funrise's Penny Racers line under different names and colors, also remolded to have a coin holder. The 2001 release was silver in color and went under the name of "Aero". The 2003 version is part of the "Whirlers", "Impactorz" and "Berzerkers" groups in black, blue, and white under the names of "Whizer", "Ionic" and "Stampedeo", respectively. Trivia *The DAF 95 TurboTwin X1, which overtook Ari Vatanen's 405 T16 GR in the 1988 Paris-Dakar rally, was also released in toy form as part of the Marathon Choro-Q line. *The 405 Turbo-16 was originally developed as a Group S rally car, but because Group B was axed and Group S was cancelled, it never got to compete in the latter. However, it did go on to become a hill climb car that raced in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, as well as, in the Grand Raid model, compete in the Paris-Dakar rally. Gallery P405T16GRRealLife.jpg|The real-life Peugeot 405 T16 GR #204, driven by Ari Vatanen at the 1988 Paris-Dakar rally External Link(s) *Wikipedia article on the Peugeot 405 Turbo-16 (translated from Italian via Google Translate) Category:Toyline Category:Real life (toyline) Category:Peugeot Category:European Vehicles Category:Discontinued